beernesday

camra vancouver held its agm on sunday and gave out some awards and i won one of them! i tied for third place in the local bloggers/writers category (and got interviewed on cfox radio yesterday about fat tug and four winds winning best beer and best brewery, respectively)

beer geek life lessons "Beer is an affordable luxury, and the dividends it pays in flavor and camaraderie are worth the (ever-expanding) expenditures. " joe wiebe on canadian food bloggers reviewing fat tug and full nelson ipas camra president reports that the gov't is slowly realizing it needs to rework the new "unhappy hour" minimum pricing - pitchers can now be priced at $0.20 per ounce and paddy treavor's take on the new pitcher pricing "They cannot really believe we are that stupid to believe this small, token change fixes the EPIC FAIL that is our new minimum drink price standards." i don't think he's impressed i have my ticket to the inaugural vancouver craft brew cruise (8:00 p.m. session) do you?  tix still available for te 11:00 a.m. cruise

my notes from last night's on the coast beer column: Defining craft beer is a little like defining art. There is a broad description of an easily graspable concept, but it defies a precise definition. And like art, the "craft" of beer is often in the eye of the beholder. Wikipedia acknowledges the hard-to-pin down quality of craft beer in its entry for "craft brewing": The definition is not entirely consistent, but it typically applies to relatively small, independently-owned commercial breweries that employ traditional brewing methods and emphasize flavor and quality. The term is usually reserved for breweries established since the 1970s, but may be used for older breweries with a similar focus. But who is defining "small", "independently owned" and "traditional"? Craftbeer.com is the website of the American Brewer's Association. The Brewers Association has defined "craft brewer" so the organization can provide statis...

and here are my notes from yesterday's beer column on cbc radio's on the coast with stephen quinn: Bridge Brewing, of North Vancouver, hosted a 10k run on Saturday morning – the first of what will hopefully become an annual event.  50 runners met at the brewery at 9:00 and went for a 10k run.  Nothing too exciting about that.  Proceeds went to the Harvest Project – a worthy cause to support for sure, but what made this run worth telling you all about is the growlers.  Of the 50 people registered for the run, a full half of them ran with two full growlers.  That’s about 10 extra pounds these folks lugged up hill and down for 10 kilometres.  I myself did not carry the growlers, but the people who did have my respect – it was not easy!  People carried them on their shoulders, laid them on their forearms and dangled them from their thumbs – and for their troubles?  Bridge Brewing is filling those growlers for them, two fills per week, for a month....

not yet sold out so if you have no dinner plans...

the cask last night at the railway club was central city's very berry white and very berry it was the first few sips were all sweet raspberry as i got further into it though the wheat started to assert itself definitely a fruit lover's beer! i enjoyed one, but it isn't my preferred style so i moved on to fat tug for my second course

got cancelled on last night so rather than go home and do all the stuff i should have done with a free night i went out drinking with bridget! we started at bitter where she had the flight of from left to right: lighthouse switchback, driftwood fat tug and alameda yellow wolf ipas isn't it pretty? there was another, boozey flight on offer as well but i went for a glass of the elysian prometheus ipa (still felt like i was in seattle, you know?) it was a good decision i like the prometheus! from there we went to st. augustine's for the cask of storm's masala ipa a lot like james' basil ipa, it was a pleaser! not very carbonated, not overly spiced, it was just right all in all a successful night of drinking and i made it home in time to do a load of laundry!

i had a groupon for the morrissey that expired yesterday so i dragged sarena there for dinner and drinks last night and i'm darned glad i did! their beer list has improved and the hippie chick burger that i ordered was nothing short of amazingly delicious! i ordered fat tug, which is not on the online menu, but was on the current drinks sheet i love fat tug it paired very nicely with the curry on my burger i was so in the moment, i didn't even think to take a photo of my beer and burger! good times

vcbw, quickly in a few facebook photos:   voodoo donut at portland craft opening driftwood's fat tug t-shirts (hehehehehe) ready to rock out at the hop head banger's ball in my fabulous driftwood son of the morning concert shirt hoppapalooza (before we got too blurry) at the hop head banger's ball at the dix reunion at stackhouse a couple of my fave beer geeks at the final tasting room

vancouver winners of the golden plates awards beer-related spoilers: Best Pub Food 1.Irish Heather Gastropub, 210 Carrall 2.Yaletown Brewing Company, 1111 Mainland 3.Doolins Irish Pub, 654 Nelson Best Restaurant B.C. Beer Selection 1.Alibi Room, 157 Alexander 2.St. Augustine’s, 2360 Commercial 3.ensemble Tap, 990 Smithe 3.BierCraft Tap & Tapas Bar, Various locations Best Restaurant Imported Beer Selection 1.BierCraft Tap & Tapas Bar, Various locations 2.Alibi Room, 157 Alexander 3.Bitter Tasting Room, 16 W. Hastings Street Best Pub 1.Irish Heather Gastropub, 210 Carrall 2.Lamplighter Public House, 92 Water 3.Doolins Irish Pub, 654 Nelson Best Brewpub Restaurant 1.Yaletown Brewing Company, 1111 Mainland 2.Steamworks Brewing Company, 375 Water 3.Dockside Restaurant, 1253 Johnston, Granville Island 3.Central City Brewing Co., 13450 102 Avenue, Surrey Best Imported Beer 1.Heineken 2.Stella Artois 3.Guinness Best Microbrewery Local 1.Granv...

oh, i do love an excuse to dress funny and drink beer... happy st. patrick's day and aren't i pretty? drinking fat tug at malone's on saturday afternoon in my guinness finery yup, that's how i rolled

tried two casks at two venues last night i love vancouver! first up, it was rail ale at the railway club featuring central city's red racer vanilla chai stout fortunately for me, there wasn't much vanilla in it at all instead it was a delicately spiced easy drinking stout i liked it, but not enough to have two... next up i went to the whip the cask wasn't tapped when i first got there so i had to suffer through a fat tug... my life is hard! the cask of r&b black water wheat got tapped around 10 p.m. after fat tugging it up to that point i just got me a taster of the cask you know, to be able to say i'd tried it! it was interesting... very banana on the nose, wheaty on the tongue, but not as robust as a hefe and what is black water? fortunately it is not waste water, its fulvic mineral water , phew! i don't have a chemistry degree, heck i didn't even take it in high school, so i have no idea what this lovely mineral water offers to a beer...

on remembrance day i give you a post about fat tug vs sartori oh sartori, i remember it fondly and will miss it profoundly until next fall oh fat tug, i love that you're always around reminding me how much i love an ipa "One thing is for sure, they’re both incredible."

time once again for photos of the posters in the bathroom at firefly liquor store!

sloppy seconds, hoppy seconds, spring hop whatever the heck it officially ended up being called the camra members-only hopfest at the alibi room on monday night was lots of fun the goal of the evening was to give members who missed out on tickets for hoppapalooza to try the hoppy casks and kegs leftover from hoppapalooza so for $20 members bought themselves entry to the alibi room, a burger dinner and a pint of cask not tapped at hoppapalooza after that pints and sleeves were on at regular price, less 10% as i lamented in a previous post, i shoulda had half pours at hoppapalooza so that i could have made it furher through the list since there was no way i was going to finish the list at $5 sleeves i began with the included pint of swan's scotch ale which was uber-sedimenty and too boozey for me i made a concerted effort, but i just couldn't finish the whole pint then my new friend from edmonton bought me a pint of north coast's acme ipa which had an amazing n...

march 23, 2011 beernesday st. augustine's bit of a short beer menu this week... but short at st. a's is insanely long for most other places! began my evening with a sampler northcoast brewing scrimshaw pilsner st a's says: 4.4%  has a subtle hop character, a crisp, clean palate, and a dry finish i say:  pretty good.  not going to be a favourite, or even something i have a full pint of... elysian brewing co. men's room red st a's says:  5.6%  amber in color with a light hop aroma and toasty malt finish i say:  i like it.  red and hoppy!  its not an amber, its not an ipa, but it sure it their love child! taylor's crossing mad scow stout st a's says: 4.2% a dark irish ale having a rich, roasted coffee bitterness and a smooth creamy finish i say:  yes there's coffee bitterness, yes, its smooth and creamy but it feels kinda thin to me (gwen agrees) vista d'oro homestead estate cider st a's says: 7% an exceptionally dry and t...

ballast point big eye india pale ale 6% from the bottle:  big eye india pale ale is an intensely hopped ipa.  we use exclusively american centennial hops to produce this robust beer.  a rush of floral and citrus hop notes are balanced perfectly with the toasty, toffee-like flavors of a superior blend of malted barley.  its full hop flavor is guaranteed to please the palate of the true beer enthusiast.  2002 world beer cup bronze medal winner in the american-style india pale category.  get the point! driftwood brewery fat tug ipa 7% from the bottle:  with an extreme power to tonnage ratio, this behemoth delivers a barge load of hops.  this unassuming 22 ounce bottle packs 80 ibus of unrelenting diesel power! let this fat tug pull you in slow and low to happy nirvana... yup, these two are some pretty hoppy numbers that makes me very happy!

i made it to cask night at the railway last week unprecedented - that's three in a row i think! (won't be making it this week, i have a solstice party to host instead...) the cask was driftwood's blackstone porter three casks of this lively ale were brewed one at camra's winterfest, this one at the railway and the third will be tapped at st. augustine's tonight i hear tell that the initial pour was all thick head, so think a straw wouldn't sink through it (apparently they experimented!) definitely still a very thick head when i got mine the head lingered quite a while and was practically spongey to the touch (yes, i experimented too!) malty, not quite sweet, but something along those lines quite murky the sweetness is nicely balanced by the sour mash they tossed in there lots of yeast at the bottom of the glass i got a chance to talk to ian, the brewer of this fine cask he thinks there was some secondary fermentation he likes that there ...

lord almighty, i pub crawled last night and lived to tell the tale! okay, it was more of a meander, we only made it to four stops but the last one was so comfy and we had our own room, we decided to stop venturing out in the rain and just stay put that i think is the biggest difference between pub crawling in your twenties and doing it when you're a little older knowing that enjoying where you are is more important than checking off 12 pubs on your list! we started at 3 at anna's place for sushi and ipas (southern tier unearthly and howe sound devil's elbow) then hit the charlatan, where joy of joys they now have fat tug on tap! then the libra room, where i enjoyed the anchor steam and finally falconetti's, where we had the whole upstairs room to ourselves, and our own bartender - how could we possibly leave there? okay, well shortly before 2 we kicked ourselves out! good times, good friends, good beers does my heart and soul good!

at this past week's beernesday i had an ode to the ipa sort of evening it seemed like it hurt my head too much to come up with beers for a sampler and i knew they had some great ipas on tap... so i just went with four pints of four different ipas (and didn't love myself as much as usual on thursday morning when i woke up...) howe sound's total eclipse of the hops:  8%  a supremely well balanced and drinkable imperial ipa weighing in at 90 ibus and 8% alcohol. you know i love this one! so happy to see it back in the rotation at st. augustine's its a damned fine day when a seasonal that you thought was all sold out comes back to let you savour it again! driftwood's fat tug ipa:  7%  a northwest style india pale ale that is characterized by an intense hop aroma i do love this brew very aromatic hop nose not quite as balanced as the howe sound but oh, so delightful to drink! hopworks ipa:  6.6%  rich and resinous flavours of citrus fruit and pi...